Mobile phone users can breathe a sigh of relief as roaming charges across the EU are set to be abolished from tomorrow onwards.
This means that UK mobile users can use their regular allowance of calls, texts, and data at no extra cost from inside anywhere in the European Union. That said – it is recommended that consumers check with their service provider and remain aware of any other unexpected costs.
These changes came about after it was found that the high costs charged by service providers caused large amounts of people to purchase foreign SIM cards instead. The new EU regulation states that customers must be charged the same for data usage as they would in the UK.
This regulation is expected to remain in place for UK phone users for at least two years following Brexit, however the chief executive of Vodafone has stated that those in the UK were unlikely to face steep charges post-Brexit.
These regulations only apply to roaming and not to calling EU countries from the UK. It costs up to £1.50 per minute to call Spain from inside the UK with O2, whereas with Planet Telecom it ranges from £0.01 per minute to call landlines and £0.25 per minute to call mobiles.
Exceeding your agreed minutes with your service provider will still be charged in the EU as it would in the UK, with providers charging different rates.
Also, not all service providers are including Turkey in the roaming charges ban, so consumers should check with their service provider as to whether or not they will be charged for using their data inside Turkey.
Want to make cheap calls to Europe from inside the UK? Find out more here.
